Hourglass → Ace; Nancy Drew [1]

o. prologue

Leaves rustled as the whistling wind brushed past the mass of trees that encased nature and long-told legends. Cold gusts of air sent shivers down her spine as they whispered in her ears like a spirit in the night. She gritted her teeth, the crisp dryness of her tongue brushing against the roof of her mouth like sandpaper. Her legs were stiff and her feet rooted to the ground, refusing to move. While her mind screamed "run", her body betrayed her. She was a slave to the forest as it forced her to succumb to the terrors it had in store for her.

Through the splits between the thick overlapping branches, shimmering moonlight illuminated the grounds covered in wood chips and dried autumn leaves. It ambiently brightened up the gloomy area, pitch black under the night sky.

Yet even with the pearly light of the full moon, the area was still dark. For it was not the amount of light that filled the forest with shadows, but the stories and legends that lived within it. The eerie silence, the fog that loomed around the wood, settling on the grounds beneath her feet. The shadow that watched her, eager to draw her in. She could feel it, all around her. Its eyes on her, even though she couldn't see it. It paralyzed under its cold stare, crushing her under its pressure, its power.

And then, out came its shadow, tall and dark. Her voice caught in her throat, silencing her from the scream desperate to erupt. She watched it through wide eyes as it inched closer. It sensed her frozen body aching to run, her dry mouth, and her sweaty palms. It felt the fast rhythm of her heartbeat and the loud pounding of her pulse in her ears. It grew stronger, faster with her growing fear, while she only shrunk, wrapping her arms around her torso and wishing herself away.

Her eyelids clenched shut along with her fists. The slowly pouring blood from her nails digging into her palms went unnoticed, trickling down her sides as she trembled under its stare. Even with her eyes closed, she could feel the creature getting closer and closer until its hot breath was hitting her face. It circled her, a hungry low breathy growl emanating from it. She could have mistaken it for a spectral wind blowing off the harbor. It was as though the sound wrapped itself around her and pulled at the deepest most vulnerable part of her soul. Her heart sunk as she felt its scaly claws reach over the sides of her head from behind her. The hard skin of its hands traveled further around her head, to her face, until all she saw was black, all she felt was darkness, and all she could hear was her own blood-curdling scream.